How I Met Your Mother

I liked this show a lot all those many years ago, but after two seasons it started losing its breath and went through a crisis of sorts. After Season 6, I gave up on watching it altogether. This year, I started reviewing shows I'd already seen, so I gave it another chance and made it to the end. I'm not going to lie; my frustration grew with each successive season, so I was really surprised that the final season wasn't the worst one. As I said, the first two seasons were okay, but the quality started to fade in the third season, and then it went downhill from there. But I hung in there and I’m truly proud of myself. / Lesson learned: It could have been way more legen...wait for it...dary! (25/10/2022)

A sitcom that can be enjoyed by almost any generation. Above-standard entertainment, with especially the first three or four seasons being absolutely perfect. However, over time, starting around the sixth season, the series drops down to an average. It can’t avoid the common pitfalls facing any contemporary series, that is, attempts at character development, while excessively stretching out the plot. The negatives are, however, outweighed by the positive impression that these five best friends from Manhattan managed to leave on me. To borrow a catchphrase from Barney, I'd call those nine years during which not only the characters went through changes, but so did I, truly legendary. (29/07/2013)

Where Friends ended... ...in fact Friends continues, just with a different cast. And yeah, it’s pretty funny, but maybe even more cheap moralizing than before. And all the rest of the characters are well-written (and acted, in fact), the main character is quite the opposite. You want to kill him from the very first episode. Which harms the series as a whole, which is a shame. (01/07/2009)

At one point it was my favourite sitcom. A great gang of likeable protagonists and every episode was like a dose of good mood. The first season made we want to be in New Your to live those funny moments together with Ted, Robin, Barney, Marshal and Lily, but then things get unnecessarily contrived, the characters don’t evolve at all (even if the show tries to claim they do) and the quality of the humour becomes noticeably lower. The first season of HIMYM was like real life, I felt that something like that could be happening across the pond, but now, at the end of the fifth season? HIMYM has become completely detached from reality, with events that could never happen, and I stopped rooting for most of the protagonists. The first two seasons or so were proper five stars, then it went down to four and I would give three stars to the fifth. (01/06/2010)

Situational comedy can finally be appreciated as a (sub)genre. This series pulls at the tried and true truths of partner relationships through a pandering form of apt catchphrases, while also not being afraid of a tender romance that genuinely warms the cockles of our hearts. Neil Patrick Harris is now the foremost mentor of pure comedy for a long time to come, and Alyson Hannigan proves that it didn't end with flute sex at music camp. Awesome, totally! PS: Barney’s trip to San Francisco is one of the absolute most fantastic moments this series has offered. Edit: From the fourth series onwards, there is a clear shift towards traditional sitcom waters. It's still funny, but not as relaxed and likable. I still watch it out of nostalgia. (13/07/2008)